The Erso Redemption
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: The thoughts of Jyn Erso, Cassian and Krennic as they fight on Scarif for the Death Star plans. Spoilers for "Rogue One."
1. Chapter 1 Foreword

**Foreword. **

I have decided to change the format of my stories by adding a foreword before all of my multi-chapter stories because I am getting bored frankly of saying disclaimers all the time, and I decided to do it with this and the other two stories I've started today.

Firstly, let me tell you that although I love Star Wars' original trilogy, with its action and the charm which, and certain things about the prequel trilogy though the expanded media was just too much for me to cope with, I was always trying to figure out how to write a multi-chapter story which goes into it.

Secondly, I love the character of Jyn Erso, and I love Rogue One. It was unique to me because the Jedi were hardly involved, and although there were a couple of mentions, the Jedi Order was not the focus of the story. I made up my mind that writing the thoughts of Jyn and Cassian, and perhaps Krennic, was a great way to begin a multi-chapter story. I've written a sister story for Darth Vader's own thoughts in the scenes we've seen him in, so please feel free to take a look.

In this story, there will be a few extra scenes I've written with the dialogue I've put in because I felt it would fit.

Lastly, I don't own Star Wars nor will I ever try - _**THIS DISCLAIMER APPLIES THROUGHOUT THE CHAPTERS OF THIS STORY**_, and please let me know how you think I've done because I would like feedback to let me know where I am going wrong with my story. Also, if you like my story, please read the other Star Wars stories I've written so far.

Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2 Into the Vault

The Erso Redemption.

As she and Cassian held up the hand of unconscious Imperial officer Kaytoo had knocked out hard when they'd arrived at the comparative safety of the data-vault while they tried to use his palm print to open the door, Jyn Erso couldn't help but wish that they had enough time out here so she could think despite the scale of the task ahead of them all, but she knew they couldn't because time was precious; the Imperials were already on the alert while the others who'd come with her and Cassian out to Scarif kept the stormtrooper garrison based here busy while she, Cassian and Kay went through the data-tapes in search of the Death Star plans, so it wouldn't take long for their security to realise they were here, and Jyn couldn't help but think about what they were about to do.

Jyn didn't want to even think about that; there was a good chance with the group she had brought along with her to this planet deep in Imperial space were all going to die, but then they had known that was a possibility. In any case, they were soldiers. They had known what they were going to get themselves into, but she hoped that enough of them survived to make it out of this mess.

She also hoped she made it out, she had to.

There was so much for her to do, so much she needed to do, though firstly before she did anything she had to concentrate on the mission she had given herself since the rest of the so-called Rebel Alliance were so pathetic and cowardly, although a part of her understood their reasoning. The thought of the Empire just _having _a planet-killer was horrifying enough, but the idea that soon Palpatine and the Empire would unleash it was even worse though not unexpected. Ever since the Empire was created, the galaxy had plunged deeper and deeper into hell.

With the Death Star around, it was going to be even worse.

But it could be destroyed, and she had every intention of making sure the Rebel Alliance got hold of the plans they needed to study the Death Star so then they could destroy it once and for all. Her father had stated in his hologram it was easy enough to find, although it was incredibly tiny and almost unnoticeable and insignificant.

But she was going to make sure the Rebels got hold of the precious plans to destroy it.

She was going to succeed.

She had to.

And it had also made her think and reflect, and she didn't like what she saw. She still found it…just so hard to believe and even understand just how much her life had changed in the span of only a few days.

When she had been freed from that labour camp, Jyn had never once imagined that so much of her life would be ripped open, and so many lies and half-truths she had thought she had known for so long and had long since taken to be gospel truth had ended up crumbling into dust because she had been spending so much of her time running away from her past.

She had been doing it for most of her teenage and early adult years, really; just running away and never looking back because she had been afraid of what she would find.

And now, because she had been so determined to avoid all contact with her past; Saw, her father, she had lost out on so many opportunities, although it would have been more considerate if Saw had given her better warning of what was going on.

But not anymore.

She was done running.

Today, she was finally going to do the right thing. The thought that she had spent so long just thinking about number one when the truth of what had happened with her father was not what she'd assumed hurt her.

Today she was going to redeem herself, redeem her father who was already considered to be a traitor although soon enough everyone would realise what her father had done to Palpatine's precious weapon and actually do some good for the galaxy on the whole.

"This is not working, K!" Cassian yelled out to the re-programmed droid who was busy working on the console outside the corridor leading to the vault while he and Jyn once more tried, and failed, to open the vault door.

"_Right hand," _the former Imperial droid retorted (Jyn momentarily wondered if the droid was this snarky before he had been reprogrammed by the Alliance, but she knew this was not the time to ask), after a bit of fumbling she and Cassian managed to move the aforementioned right hand onto the keypad and the door opened, revealing a short corridor leading into a room with a window and a console in front of it. As she and Cassian stood up from the officer, disregarding him completely now they'd gotten the vault opened, they walked inside, the automatic lighting system came online, revealing more details of the three light silvery grey vault towers built from segments showing black nodes containing storage slots aglow with dim red lights.

Jyn gaped with awe as she took in the three towering vault towers. She had heard about the data vault from Saw Gerrera. This vault was full of separate data banks stuffed full of scientific research, bureaucratic bits and pieces, information on the numerous projects the Empire was working on or were planning to work on a later date, though the storage systems contained the current information where it would be a base for later research.

"This isn't going to be easy," she observed as she studied the towers, knowing that somewhere either above or below there was a data-slot with the Death Star plans in them.

Cassian nodded as the scale of their task became more apparent to him.

_It's a shame Saw's dead, _Jyn reflected herself as she studied the different black nodes, and was left wondering just what was on them, and thinking of just how vital to Empire security they were, _he would have given all of his cybernetic components __**just **__to look at this place! If he were here, he would spend hours and hours ripping every single tape out of those towers, and use them to punch so many holes into the Empire, it would be impossible for them to get back on their feet. _

As soon as her mind registered that particular thought, Jyn wished she could do more than just select a single, mere tape from the tower from this vault. She wished she could tear out so many of them, on the various projects the Empire had in place, the knowledge about the whereabouts of so many of the Empire's bases… if she could do that, give them all to the Alliance, or one of the more extreme resistance groups out there - Saw's was not the only one, she knew of many out there in the galaxy, scattered like seeds on various worlds - in case the Rebel Alliance were too frightened at the thought of really posing a threat to Palpatine, and really blow a hole in the Empire that would be impossible for them to repair.

No. It was not possible.

Even if she and Cassian could take a few of the tapes out, getting them into the open into the hands of the Alliance, would be virtually impossible. It was going to be hard enough to get the _Death Star plans _out of here. They would have to leave them here, but the temptation was so strong. She turned to Cassian and saw the same awe she felt herself, the same realisation.

"It's tempting, isn't it?" she whispered.

"What?" he asked, turning to her in confusion.

"This," she lifted a gloved hand up and gestured at the vault towers where the red lights were glowing so invitingly at them. "It's so tempting to just grab a number of the tapes, not just the Death Star tape, get out of here, and use them to cause damage throughout the Empire and really make a difference."

Cassian nodded. "Yeah," he whispered breathlessly, "it is. Even if we could grab a few tapes on various projects and other matters, we'd have the means to cause a lot of damage. We could destroy their bases, one by one. We could set back the projects that Palpatine and Vader commissioned to further explore things theorised by the Old Republic decades ago by years. We could get an incredible boon in intel."

Jyn watched as his body sagged. "But we can't," he whispered, "we only have the time to grab the one tape."

"Not necessarily," she said, ignoring the little voice of reason that was trying to tell her grabbing more than one tape was a bad idea, and he looked at her again, "if we have the time, we can ask K if he could find a few more we could take with us."

Cassian looked at her funnily.

Jyn frowned at him, confused by the look she was getting from him. "What?" she asked, wondering what was making him stare at her like this.

"You've been determined to just take the Death Star plans and just them," he commented, looking at her with an expression she couldn't work out, "and now you want to really bring down the Empire?"

Jyn shrugged and wondered inwardly when she had become so transparent. "I want to be redeemed," she found herself replying, "I have spent the majority of my life running away from my past, my problems, fighting only for myself because I had nothing else to fight for. I had thought for years my father had become just another piece of the Imperial war machine, and was happy there while my mother rotted somewhere, and I was gone, never to bother him. I have spent the major of my life just ignoring the rest of the galaxy, but now I know the truth about my father," she closed her eyes and looked down, sorrow filling her; they didn't have time for this type of conversation when time was precious and they needed to find and grab the tape before the Imperials worked out they were here, but she felt she needed to at least explain some of her reasons to Cassian, "and I want to redeem him, redeem myself. I want to bring down not just the Death Star, but I also want to shatter the Empire."

Cassian smiled. "Now you sound more like a Rebel," he chuckled at her.

Jyn chuckled back. "Watch it," she replied with a smile as she looked up into his face; she had felt an attraction towards Cassian the moment they had met despite her best efforts, and how she had told herself they wouldn't know each other for long. But now… Jyn pushed those thoughts aside; she hadn't loved anyone in a long time, and with everything happening around her, this was not the time.

Her smile faded. "Still, do you think we should make the effort?" she asked deferentially.

"You're asking me?" he asked in surprise.

Jyn shrugged. "Why not?" she reasoned. "I know I'd take as many of these tapes as we could, assuming we could manage it, and get them back to the Alliance. Hopefully, they'd use it as an opportunity to cause damage to the Empire. Destroying the Death Star would cause the Empire problems, but think about the kind of damage we could do? The differences we'd make?"

"You really are thinking of joining the Rebellion, aren't you?" Cassian observed as he watched and listened to how impassioned she had become.

"I've always been one at heart, but with what I believed about my father," Jyn paused awkwardly as she remembered those days when she had managed to escape the homestead on Lah'mu when Krennic had found them, "and being abandoned by Saw on Tamseye, I found I didn't care about the galaxy on the whole. But now…. Now I don't know what I am; I might be a rebel, then again I might not be," she said, sounding to Cassian as though she really meant it, though he could tell that she had already made the choice.

She was a Rebel.

She did want to stand with the Rebel Alliance against the Empire.

Reality snapped back for him when Jyn said, "We'd better get K's help in finding the tape."

Cassian kicked himself for forgetting that little tidbit as he remembered that Kaytoo had the means of helping them find the plans. They both dragged the fallen Imperial officer who had been standing on watch in the vault, and Jyn idly wondered just how much time they had left; the man might have only just started his shift watching the data-vault for all they knew, but that didn't mean somebody couldn't come here on impulse.

They found Kaytoo standing over the control console with his data-probe interfacing with the console while Jyn made the mental note to make sure the droid was prepared to defend himself because if they were found in the vault, they would be killed. The only way they could survive was if they were forewarned.

"The rebel fleet has arrived," the reprogrammed droid reported while Jyn and Cassian both dumped the body out of sight.

Jyn whirled round in shock. "What?"

Cassian also turned around, and she could see that he was as surprised as she was.

Undeterred by the effect his news had on them, the droid went on. "There's fighting on the beach."

Jyn wasn't surprised by that. The whole point of bringing the others was to serve as a distraction to keep the stormtroopers and the rest of the base occupied while they stole the plans.

But the _Rebel Fleet…_

While she felt that she was a rebel at heart, in truth Jyn still had problems in general with the rest of the Alliance. She was just so tired of their never-ending desire to squabble in the face of danger. Sure there were a few who had the drive to get things done, but the fact some of them were so quick and willing to just give up without a fight spoke volumes about their characters.

The idea that someone had sent in a fleet to help…..Jyn had been worried about the success of the plan to steal the data-tape on the Death Star with the garrison full of stormtroopers and the shield gate up above

She returned Cassian's smile of triumph, but it quickly faded when Kaytoo went on with his report. "They've locked down the base," Kaytoo lifted his head to report the last bit, his voice box giving a worried tone, "they've closed the shield gate."

Jyn marched over to the droid. "What does that mean?" she asked; she had never encountered a shield gate before, but her practical mind already had a good idea what the droid was talking about, and she was only hoping she was wrong. This whole mess was hard enough to work with as it was, but with this added on it was going to be virtually impossible to get out.

Kaytoo looked down at her, and she knew the truth, but she still turned to Cassian. "We're trapped?"

Cassian nodded grimly.

"We could transmit the plans to the rebel fleet," Kaytoo said, making Jyn look up at him in hope; finally things were looking up again. But the reprogrammed droid instantly shot that thought down with the biggest problem with that option. "We'd have to get a signal up to tell them its coming. It's the size of the data files. That's the problem."

Jyn realised the droid was right as her brain ground to a halt as she tried to think of a way that this plan could work out for them. There was nothing they could do from here, she realised. They would have to get help to get the data files out into space, but so many things could go wrong.

"They'll never get through," Kaytoo said next, clearly considering the logical size of the files and the difficulty of the task ahead of them. "Someone has to take that shield gate down."

Cassian took out his comlink and spoke urgently into it. "Bodhi. Bodhi, can you hear me?" he asked before he became agitated and walked to a different part of the room, still speaking harshly into the communicator. "Bodhi, tell me you're out there."

Jyn watched him silently, but just as she was starting to realise the data-vault was so well reinforced the signal was not getting out, a plaintive voice replied, "_I'm here. I was standing by. They've started fighting. The base is on lockdown."_

Cassian nodded although the former Imperial pilot couldn't see it, and he spared a glance over at Jyn and Kay. "I know. Listen to me. The rebel fleet is up there. You've gotta tell them to blow a hole in the shield gate so we can transmit the plans."

"_Wait, I can't. I'm not hooked into the comms tower. We're not tied in," _Bodhi protested, and Jyn could hear the agitation in the cargo pilot's voice as he recognised the scale of the task before him, and she sympathised; this was like trying to move a planet through space with nothing but a very small underpowered tractor beam, but at least with this there was the possibility of success. She just hoped Bodhi could find some way of getting the message out to the rebel fleet to make them destroy the shield gate so they could broadcast the plans. They were so close to their goal now, and Jyn wished there were two of her so then one could help Bodhi and the others while being here so they could find the Death Star plans.

Cassian's voice was sympathetic but his manner was hard as he replied. "It's the only way we're getting them out of here. Find a way!"

Jyn stared at him desperately as Cassian switched off his comlink, hoping that Bodhi could find a solution to this problem. The cargo pilot was their only hope of getting through to the rebel fleet.

Cassian turned to Kaytoo as his stance shifted as he made to walk back inside the vault. "Cover our backs," he told the reprogrammed droid.

Jyn was about to follow Cassian back into the vault where hopefully Kaytoo would be able to help them locate the right tape when she remembered something she had filed away earlier. She turned around and pulled out a blaster she'd taken from her pocket. "You'll need this," she said to the surprised droid, who seemed to be regarding the weapon with surprise. "You wanted one, right?" she asked ironically as she remembered that shuttle trip to Jedha which now seemed like so long ago now, how she had not trusted either Cassian or his droid friend.

But now….

Now things had changed a great deal. Now they needed to trust one another, and while it had been slow between them, Jyn had learnt to trust Kaytoo and Cassian.

Kaytoo reached for the blaster and examined it closely, inspecting the charge of the weapon. "Your behaviour, Jyn Erso, is continually unexpected," the droid commented.

Jyn smiled just as Cassian returned. "Jyn. Come on," he said impatiently.

Jyn turned around and rushed towards the vault, but not before she glanced back at the reprogrammed droid, and she tried to let go of the thought that this would be the last time she would see the droid before they could work together to really take down the Empire….

* * *

Author's Note - There you have it, the start of The Erso Redemption. I loved writing that bit about the data-tapes, and really why shouldn't either she or Cassian ask themselves "why not go further and steal as many as possible?" The only problem was they didn't have time. I also felt, although she was more or less a part of the Alliance, Jyn was frustrated by them very easily, which was why she fit in more with more extremist groups.

Anyway, how do you think I did?


	3. Chapter 3 Going up

The Erso Redemption.

_The problem with my life, _Cassian mused to himself as he and Jyn looked up at the three towers inside the main vault while they waited to Kaytoo to narrow down the search for the Death Star plans, _is its so easy for everything to go straight to hell without being able to work out what's happening. _

He and Jyn had been waiting for Kaytoo to bypass many of the security overrides built into the computer to help them figure out just which of the towers the plans were located, and not for the first time Cassian was eternally grateful the Alliance had captured and reprogrammed an Imperial droid which had the right computer programming to interface with technology which would fry an ordinary Alliance droid in a heartbeat; the Empire was paranoid and extremely cautious at the best of times. They had layered their computers with all kinds of traps to prevent this type of thing, so it made espionage incredibly tricky.

Cassian fidgeted. He just wasn't comfortable in this uniform. It was hard to wear such a familiar uniform which had become hated around the galaxy since the Empire's inception. He looked at Jyn, and wondered how she was coping, but considering her touch nature, he doubted that she was that affected.

But even with Kay's access, finding the right tower was hard, so Jyn and he were left waiting, both barely able to speak to one another.

Finally, K-2SO came through over the line with the news of his search. "_Schematic bank_, _data tower two_."

Cassian looked down at the console - while he was pleased Kay had even _found _which of the three towers it was in, they still had to find the plans. "How do I find that?"

"_Searching_," Kay said over the line. "_I can find the tape_ _but_ _you'll_ _need_ _to use_ _the handles for extraction_."

Cassian looked up, pleased that the handles were easy to find. They were just two handholds set into the window. He slipped off his Imperial officer's cap and examined the handles briefly before he noticed they were locked so he unlocked them. "What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked curiously to himself but Jyn didn't answer because he could see out of the corner of his eye she had no idea herself.

He grasped the handles slowly downwards, but very quickly a circular ring that surrounded the data tower came up.

"Whoa!" Cassian whispered, amazed by how fast it was.

Cassian then performed a few more experimental moves with the handles so he could get used to them, and the ring followed suit, and the two Rebels could see the circular retrieving mechanism which would get the tape for them, and once Cassian was finished he was about to ask Kay if he had found the tape yet, but before he could even open his mouth there was a sound from down the corridor to the lobby outside the vault. Cassian and Jyn turned around and watched in horror as the vault door closed and locked them in.

Cassian looked at Jyn, and he could see the same worry there as well. "What was all that about?" she asked. "He hasn't gone back on his programming, has he?" she asked fearfully.

"No," Cassian shook his head hoping that he was reassuring himself as well as her. "Something must have come up. I'll find out what's going on," he added as he reached for the comlink.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? There could be anything with him on the other side of that door," Jyn asked.

"Jyn, we're too close now. We need Kay to help us find the plans," Cassian said before he lifted up the comlink and spoke into it. "Kay, what's going on out there?" he asked.

The line was open, so they could both hear the sounds of Kay's voice though they couldn't hear him properly, and the sounds of a scuffle before they heard the sounds of blasters firing, and then silence.

Jyn and Cassian shared at look before the com link came on and Kay's voice came over the link. "_We'd better make this quick, Cassian_. _A group of stormtroopers just came in for a visit_; _I've dealt with them_, _but more will be coming in when they find this group have not reported in yet_."

Cassian closed his eyes in relief and he saw Jyn smile in relief as well. "Thanks for making sure they didn't get us, Kay," he replied.

"_You're welcome, but you'd better find those plans so I can get them out_," Kay said.

_Trust a droid to get right down to business, _Cassian thought in amusement while he took position near the handles while Jyn bent down over the console to read out the codenames for the various projects stored in these towers.

Jyn had known from the moment she had seen the data towers inside the vault that it would be hard for them to find the right tape, but the appearance of the stormtroopers on the other side when Kaytoo had closed off the vault had only served to drum in what she and Cassian already knew. They were both running out of time in here. They needed to find the tape and just get out of here, but as she reeled off the list given to her by the computer thanks to Kaytoo's access, she could overhear the sounds of blaster fire coming from the comlink.

_Kay was right, _she thought although she knew the Imperials well enough to know if they lost contact with a group of stormtroopers more would follow, thankfully the rest of the garrison had other more immediate concerns to handle.

"Hyperspace tracking. Navigational systems," she shook her head, these were just conventional scientific projects with no actual sign of anything even _remotely related _to the Death Star; she knew that hyperspace tracking technology had been in the process of been researched for decades with only the slightest amount of success.

"_Two screens down_. '_Structural engineering_.' _Open that one_," Kaytoo instructed from the comlink.

Jyn nodded even though the reprogrammed Imperial droid couldn't see it, ignoring the sound of the blaster bolt. It was probably another stormtrooper. But as Jyn searched the next file, she was caught by a nagging thought; how were they going to get out of this vault while more troopers were rushing to the vault?

Jyn shook her head and continued to read though she took a moment to study the codenames here, and felt this was a little more hopeful while she felt Cassian lean over her shoulder, and she could tell he didn't have a clue what half of these projects were and whether or not they were weapon systems, although the Empire did occasionally fund research into more scientific projects though how long it would be before they were perverted, she had no idea. "Project code names; 'Stellarsphere,' 'Mark Omega,' 'Pax Aurora…..' War-Mantle," she reeled off, wondering just what some of these projects were, "'Cluster prism,' 'Blacksaber,'….," Jyn paused as she saw the next project on the list.

"What?" Cassian asked, looking at her in concern.

"'Stardust,'" Jyn replied looking at the screen for a moment more, wondering how in the _hell _her father had managed to have the project named that before she decided it didn't matter now. She looked up at Cassian, wondering if he was reading her sadness at the nickname her father had given her so long ago. "That's it."

"How do you know that?"

Jyn was silent for a moment as she remembered all of those precious moments between her father and herself, moments she had tried for so long to suppress after she had felt her father had betrayed her and her mother by working with the Empire but were now bursting through the tightly closed strong box inside her mind. She pulled herself together with effort and turned to look Cassian straight into the face. "I know because it's me," she replied.

Cassian looked at her in confusion, but there was a smile on his face. "Your father?" he asked.

Jyn nodded. "He used to call me 'Stardust' when I was a child," she whispered, and then she shook her head, "He must have known I would get involved with this at some point… He must have known I was with Saw all this time."

"How could he have known that?"

"The hologram, on Jedha…," Jyn reasoned. "He must have been in communication with Saw, maybe for a long time before Krennic came after us. I remember he sometimes spoke to someone on a comlink while my mother kept watch on me during that point, so she must have known as well, but I was too young to understand."

Cassian nodded as he accepted that line of reasoning. "And he entrusted Saw with your care, and maybe Saw found a way to contact your father."

"More likely the other way around. I think my father must have found a way of getting a message out to Saw, although it wouldn't have been easy," Jyn clarified, "My father was locked away by Krennic, and the only way to find out if he was still alive was to listen to the propaganda; the Empire went mad when my father ran away the first time around. They tore the galaxy to bits trying to find us, and when they had him they milked it for what it was worth until everyone, including me, saw him as a traitor," she finished guiltily.

But something didn't make sense to her. If the hologram had been addressed to Saw and her father had even known about her being with him, then why had her father wondered if she was still alive? Had Saw told him? That would make sense, and now she was thinking about it Jyn guessed that her father had confided in Saw about the Stardust nickname. Had her father planned for Saw to come here to Scarif?

Cassian gently comforted her by touching her shoulder, and she looked at him, pushing her thoughts out of her mind since they were no longer important since both Saw and her father were gone, and she was here to make sure the Death Star was destroyed. "We've got the plans now and we're going to use them."

Jyn nodded as she watched him lift the comlink to his lips. "Kay, we need the file for Stardust," he spoke into the comlink, but over the line, they could both hear the sound of heavy blaster fire.

It took a moment for Kaytoo to respond to the request for the project, and Jyn was left wondering if Kaytoo was becoming too badly damaged to even reply.

"_Stardust_," she heard the reprogrammed Imperial droid say clearly over the comlink, and she wondered how he was taking the attack; as an Imperial droid programmed and designed for combat, Kaytoo was probably more durable than a conventional droid, and much more capable and flexible than the battle-droids favoured by the Separatists during the Clone Wars, but Jyn knew he was still a droid and he had his limits to what he could take. From the sounds of the fighting, Kay was taking a lot of punishment, but she hoped he'd find a way to get out of there though she wasn't sure how…

On the data tower, a green light began flashing high up.

"That's it," Jyn said.

It was enough for Cassian who took the handles and with some work he sent the retrieval ring upwards and with some work he managed to get the tape out of the tower.

All the lights shut down for a moment, taking Jyn and Cassian by surprise before the emergency power systems kicked in.

"Kay?" Cassian said, clearly wondering what was going on.

"_Climb," _the reprogrammed, and probably very badly damaged droid said.

Jyn and Cassian shared a look, wondering what was happening on the other side of the vault door to make Kay say _that, _but the reprogrammed Imperial droid went on over the sounds of blaster fire. "_Climb_. _You can still send the plans to the fleet_. _If they open the shield gate_…," Jyn and Cassian both shared another look, both knowing that Kaytoo didn't have much longer left if his vocal processors were slurring, though as they listened to what the droid was saying they wondered how long it would take before the Rebel Alliance fleet would be able to destroy the Shield gate, "_you can broadcast from the tower_."

Jyn winced inwardly as she heard the slurring from the droid's vocal processor. She knew he didn't have long left to go now.

"_Locking the vault door now_."

Cassian looked wildly around him. "Kay? Kay!" he yelled as he raced for the vault door.

"_Goodbye_."

There was the sound of a small explosion on the other end of the connection and then silence although Jyn and Cassian could both hear the sounds of the vault lock bars sliding into place.

Cassian looked stricken at her, shaking her head.

"There's nothing we can do," she whispered while she looked at him sympathetically, "except do what he says. We have to get those plans and get to the top of the tower. Hopefully, by then the shield will be down, and this will be over."

Cassian said nothing. His eyes were haunted, and Jyn wondered just how attached he was to Kay, but this was not the time to get into that kind of debate. She walked over to him, hoping to offer him some degree of comfort even though it wasn't really in her capacity to do so, but if she could inspire all those men on that cargo shuttle, this should be easy.

"Cassian," she whispered urgently and she took his face into her hands and gently turned it in her direction so he was looking at her. "He sacrificed himself so we would live and complete this mission. How many of the group we brought are already dead? If we stay here, they'd have died for nothing. Now come on."

She pulled him back to the console, inwardly worried he was going to protest. Fortunately he pulled himself together and was back to his old self, although the clear sorrow of losing a friend was clear on his face was still fresh, she hated the fact they had lost Kay; even if their relationship was rocky, she had come to rely on the droid even though his snarky personality had driven her mad at times…

"Bodhi, are you there?" Cassian asked. "Did you call the fleet?"

Again there was the sound of blaster fire coming from the other end of the line when Bodhi responded, and Jyn wondered just how many more of their group, the group Bodhi himself had termed 'Rogue One' out of defiance was left.

"_I can't get to the shuttle,_" the former Imperial pilot replied, and over the comlink Jyn could very well believe it; it sounded like all kinds of hell were going on on the other end. _"I can't plugin."_

"You have to. They have to hit that gate," Cassian snapped into the link, "If the shield's open, we can send the plans."

With that Cassian turned off the comlink and he and Jyn went to the window and gazed at the tower to where the retrieval rail was still parked. The Death Star plans were right up there, and they had no way of getting to them without climbing up the tower. Jyn scanned the window and the tower, trying to estimate the distance between them, and came to the conclusion while she and Cassian could both _jump _across, it wouldn't a very comfortable climb.

She took out her blaster and pointed it at the glass. "Step back," she said and waited until Cassian was further away from the window before she fired. The blaster bolt shattered the unprotected glass and little crumbs and shards drifted all the way down to the bottom of the towers.

Jyn turned to Cassian and she started taking off the Imperial ground technicians uniform she had been wearing. Cassian saw what she was doing and he started taking off his own disguise before he helped her take off the backpack she had strapped to her back before they straightened themselves up.

Jyn looked at Cassian with a smile. "Shall we?" she asked.

Cassian grinned back. "After you,'' he said graciously.

Jyn grinned back and she clambered on top of the console, careful not to touch any remaining shards of glass left when the window shattered, and she held onto the edge while she gathered her energy and fought to remember all the lessons Saw and his fellow resistance fighters had taught her while she had been under their tutelage. She was in luck that just below the window there was a narrow ledge she could place her feet, but it wouldn't hold her for long, but she looked down and to see what would happen if she failed. She took one last look of Cassian, and he sent her a look wishing her luck before she turned around to face her target. She gathered her energy and she concentrated while tensing her leg muscles…and then she leapt off the ledge.

With a grunt, she caught the side of the tower, and she couldn't help but look down. _It's not over yet, _she thought to herself, and she began to climb upwards. The tower had just enough foot and handholds that were strong enough to take her weight, but the metals and plastics she was using were nothing; Saw had made her learn how to climb and scale sheer walls before. She was perfectly fine.

She heard a grunt from below and she paused for a second as she watched Cassian leap over from the other side onto the tower. Once he started his own climb she resumed her own as they both got higher and higher until she reached the tape.

Jyn made sure that she was secure and she reached around and grabbed the tape. It took her a moment of pulling before she could feel it was coming out.

"I've got it!" she called.

It came loose, but the speed it came out almost sent her tumbling down to her death.

"Careful!" she heard Cassian yell and she felt him take hold of her arm before she steadied. Indeed for a long instant, Jyn saw her entire life flashing past, but she managed to take hold of the tower again.

Cassian's face was full of concern while Jyn struggled to get her breath back and her heart rate under control. "You okay?"

She looked at him and nodded with a smile while she clipped the data tape to her back.

Jyn led Cassian around the tower so they could find a way up when a door on the other side started to open. Jyn already had her head turned in that direction to see what was going on when Cassian yelled out her name in warning, "Jyn!"

But Jyn was already climbing up as she caught sight of a black-armoured death trooper along with a man wearing a white tunic. It was Krennic, but what was he doing here on Scarif? Jyn didn't have time to think because Cassian had taken out his blaster and had begun firing into the doorway and they were fighting back.

Jyn grunted as a laser blast clipped the side of the tower, but she twisted around so she wasn't in the line of sight of the blasters. She sent a cold look towards Krennic, feeling fifteen years of pent up loathing towards the man for everything he had done. Cassian must have seen her circling around the tower because he fired more blasts at the Death troopers and Krennic, but they still got one or two of their own shots in, and the blasts clipped the sides of the tower, sending sparks everywhere.

Jyn clung to the side of the tower while Cassian got a few shots in, and she distantly heard the sound of a mechanised voice cry out before another joined in. Not able to resist peeking out, Jyn caught sight of a black armoured body falling out of the door, and plummeting down to his death if he wasn't already dead. It was a morbid thought, but she didn't care. Jyn didn't know if these Death troopers had been there when her mother was murdered, but if they were then at last her mother had been avenged.

"Keep going! Keep going!" Cassian yelled up at her when she had climbed up further now she had taken advantage of the tower's curve to get her away from Krennic's shots.

She glanced briefly down to see Cassian raise his blaster before she looked back up at where she wanted to go and she wondered if he was hoping to get in a lucky last shot before he climbed up when she heard him scream. "Cassian!" she yelled in horror when she saw him fall onto a girder that was below him and hit it hard before he fell almost silently onto a small platform underneath.

Jyn looked down, hoping to see him move again, but he wasn't moving. For a long moment, she was tempted to climb back down and see if he was alright, but the practical part of her mind told her it was a bad idea; she knew it would be a suicidal move with Krennic nearby. Sadly she turned her attention back to the tower, and she continued her climb upwards. Jyn had no idea if Cassian was alive or not, but she hoped he was, and that he found his own way out.

It was a long climb upwards, and all that time Jyn was keeping a watch in case Krennic appeared out of nowhere. She kept her eyes open for any doors along the way upwards, but it looked like the walls were bare. Occasionally she would look down and see if Cassian was down there somewhere, but she couldn't see him after a while.

Jyn pushed down the guilt that she had left him behind. _Why am I feeling like this? _she asked herself. _Why do I feel guilty? I mean, yes, Cassians' nice, but - _

She closed her eyes, this was no time to be thinking about romance. She had to get out of this vault, she had to find a way of getting to the top of the citadel communications tower. She just hoped Bodhi and the others had found a way of getting through to the Alliance to take down that shield gate otherwise they'd have come all this way for nothing.

_Try not to think of that, _she chided herself as she climbed up, concentrating on both the climb and on keeping watch in case Krennic or more troopers appeared…

Finally, after a long climb upwards, she found that the top of the data vault towers was topped with a metal and transparent cover that she could clamber over. As she climbed over she could hear the sound of something metallic every few seconds that was coming from above. She looked upwards trying to find the source, and she came across a hatch above that was opening and closing. She guessed it was some kind of ventilation shaft or something to keep the vault aired or cooled or something like that, she didn't care about that. All she did care about was this was the only way she had out of here, and she saw two poles that looked strong enough to hold her weight.

She stayed very still for a moment as she mentally timed how long it took for the hatchway to open and how long it took for it to close itself up while she concentrated her energy into leaping upwards, fortunately, it would not be too high.

Finally, she leapt upwards and grasped the two poles hanging underneath and pulled herself upwards so she was close to the hatch for when it opened next. Fortunately, both poles took her weight and she hung underneath for a moment while she waited for the vent to open. She didn't have long to wait because the hatch opened within a couple of seconds of her leaping upwards, quickly grasping the foot and handholds so she could push herself into the shaft above her before the hatch closed in.

Jyn took a few moments to catch her breath back before she resumed her climb upwards, hoping that by going up and just upwards, she would reach the top of the tower.

_Not long now, Papa, _she thought to herself, "_not long now…"_

* * *

Author's note - Only one more chapter to go now. Hope you're enjoying what I'm writing though.

I had wondered about the fact Galen had managed to have the project named 'Stardust,' and it made me wonder if Galen and Saw had remained in contact so the scientist knew something about Jyn's life and wellbeing and knew when Saw had cut her loose. What do you think?


	4. Chapter 4 Mission Success

The Erso Redemption.

As she stuck her head out of the panel and was greeted by the blue sky of Scarif, Jyn was relieved that apart from one or two moments while she had been crawling around the citadel tower where she'd almost didn't get out, it hadn't been that difficult to get to the top of the tower. All she'd really needed to do to reach the top was just to go upwards, although she had wished once or twice that she and the Rebel Alliance had access to blueprints of the place which focused on air-shafts since once or twice she had almost been caught, but because of the fighting going on around and above them the Imperials had been too busy to try and capture her.

When her eyes reached the level of the floor plating, Jyn could see the battle taking place, fighters dodging around each other as they fired at each other while plumes of black smoke rose from the ground.

Pulling herself out with some effort and shoving her exhaustion away, Jyn took a look at the sky in time to see an X-wing take down its Imperial opposite number, and watching as the flaming debris dropped to the ground. For a brief second, Jyn wondered about the others of 'Rogue One,' how many of them were gone already, and how many of them were still alive down there fighting for their lives?

She also wondered just how far this battle had done, and who was winning.

Jyn swallowed as she remembered that she shouldn't be thinking about that, she had her own tasks to complete. She turned around and went to the control console in the centre of the top of the tower. She took out the Death Star data tape from its hook on her belt as she did. After quickly examining the console where she took note of where the tape should be fed and the transmission control, Jyn fed the tape into the player, where it went in automatically before she reached for the control.

Jyn had it all worked out. First, she would feed in the tape and then she would try to contact the Rebel Fleet above to see if the Shield Gate had been taken down so she could send up the plans.

She reached for the large transmission control, but it refused to budge. Jyn ground her teeth together. _Not now….. Not when I'm so close!_

An automated voice belonging to another woman spoke, "_Reset antenna alignment" _while on the screen in front of her a diagram showing the antenna itself at a slanted angle appeared while at the same time showing where it needed to be realigned.

_No! _Jyn yelled in her head, glaring at the screen and the cursing the computer's automated voice even if it was just doing its job, cursing Imperial technology along the way as she did. _I haven't come all this way just to be stopped by this. _

"_Reset antenna alignment." _

Jyn swung around and spotted a tall control station on a catwalk not far from the transmission console at the same time as the computer repeated its message again. Jyn headed towards it, slipping out her blaster as she went; she wasn't going to take any chances, though truthfully she had no idea what she was going to do with a simple hand blaster, it felt reassuring to her at that moment.

When she got to the station's console, she only needed a second to see what she needed to do; the controls needed to adjust the angle of the dish were so childishly straightforward, Jyn had half expected them to have labels on them. She pushed the lever on the right of the panel upwards and she looked up in relief when she saw the dish start to move with a rumble until it was pointing upwards.

_Good, _she thought to herself as she watched it take position. _A few more minutes. A few more minutes from now and I'd have found out if the gate is open or not._

* * *

Krennic stepped into the turbo lift to head straight to the top of the tower to try to find if that Rebel had reached the satellite dish to try to broadcast the Death Star plans to the Alliance fleet currently fighting up above. He had already contacted the control room of the base before he had arrived at the lift for an update on the battle above the planet. He didn't care about the battle being waged on the planet itself, but it was vital that the shield gate remained closed so the plans could not be transmitted.

At this point, he didn't even care if the base was destroyed.

He was going to ensure the plans were safe, he was going to ensure Galen Erso's treachery did not leave this planet. Krennic was not stupid, he had seen the plans in that Rebel bitches' hands. He knew what she was going to do. It was so obvious a child could work it all out for themselves.

To transmit the plans, the logical place to do so would be at the top of the tower.

Krennic had no way of knowing if the woman he had seen climb up the data-vault tower was alive and if she had reached the satellite transmission station or not, but he hoped she was; it would be satisfying for him to see that bitch believe she had come so close only to fail when he shot her. He had no intention to fight with a battle of words except to discover who she was, because he was _positive _the woman whom he had seen on Eadu when he had gone to confront Galen about his treachery and went to him when he had been killed and the one whom he had seen a few minutes ago in the data-vault were one and the same.

_Well, _he thought to himself smugly, _what better way than to prove Tarkin and Vader wrong and show the Emperor I am the right man to command the Death Star in his name, than by safeguarding the plans? I don't see either Tarkin or Vader here, its just me. _

As he closed the lift doors and sent the car up towards the top of the tower, Krennic slipped his blaster out and checked the charge. He was looking forward to this, no question; after relying on his former guards for muscle, it was rewarding to be able to do things properly on his own. Perhaps, if he was able to spin things his way, he would have more opportunities to take the law into his own hands.

Darth Vader and Tarkin both felt he didn't have the stomach for this type of work and to take responsibility for everything, but it would definitely be gratifying to see them eat their own words. Well, he conceded, Tarkin, but not Darth Vader. Did the cyborg even need to eat? Krennic quickly decided he didn't really care either way.

And yet Krennic could hardly believe how things had spiralled out of control; ever since he had learnt about the cargo pilot and how Galen Erso was involved that had sparked the rumour of the Death Star's existence and its potential to the galaxy, everything had been spiralling out of control. Krennic had been looking forward to the Emperor's plans to dissolve the Imperial Senate and wash away the Old Republic's last bastion once and for all, and show the galaxy the true strength of the Empire, and he had not wanted anything to spoil it. Everything had been going well for Krennic even though he had needed time to repair the damage Erso had caused him, and now it looked as though he would do it again.

Krennic shrugged. It made no difference, and as the lift sped towards the top of the tower, Krennic prepared to take his first real step to truly becoming the Emperor's favourite disciple.

* * *

"_Antenna Aligned. Ready to transmit,"_

Jyn smiled crookedly as the computer gave its automated message, words not enough to describe how she felt. She had been waiting for two minutes for the satellite dish to be aligned properly, consciously aware of the dangers on all sides; on the one side there was the chance the TIE fighter pilots would get a message telling them to stop the Rebels transmitting anything off of the planet, or a squad of stormtroopers would find their way here and shoot her to pieces, and yet nothing happened.

_Huh, I guess there aren't that many here left to fight, after all, _she thought to herself before she checked on the systems to make sure it indeed ready to transmit before she made her way back.

A whine from overheard made Jyn turn her head and she watched in horror as a TIE fighter sped towards the catwalk where she was standing on, shooting all the way as it tried to get a better angle. Jyn broke into a run back towards the transmitter controls. She heard an explosion from behind and she felt a sudden burst of heat, but she had almost reached the terminal when one of the blasts struck the catwalk in front of her before she could reach the controls.

* * *

_What was that? _Krennic asked himself as he readied his blaster when the lift shook and the lifts blinked off before returning to normal, and the lift went back up on its journey.

But Krennic was still concerned about what he had just felt, and he was worried that some stupid pilot had killed the Rebel he had seen in the vault. He needed to get those plans back, and he couldn't retrieve them and show the Emperor they were safe if they were gone. He held his blaster reassuringly, hoping that it would see some use.

* * *

Jyn gasped as she swung herself back onto the catwalk. Or rather what was left of the catwalk. The blast had thrown her over the edge but she had managed to catch on and hold on for a few moments before swinging herself back onto the catwalk which was now hanging at an angle.

_I hate it when something seems to go so well only to have something go wrong and it becomes painful, _Jyn thought to herself as she strained trying to pull herself up onto the platform with the grille that made up the floor of the catwalk. Her body was so sore, her muscles were aching, and she had a splitting headache, and she could feel an agonising pain in her left leg but at the moment she didn't know for sure what state it was in until she put some of her weight on it.

_As if I didn't have enough problems, _she thought to herself as she slowly clambered to her feet with her head turned to the transmitter. She stood up and headed urgently towards it, wincing in agony as she moved. She was now limping her way along while holding onto what was left of the catwalk's railing to steady herself.

_Not long now, _she was thinking to herself as she focused on the console, _in another few moments, papa, you'll be redeemed to the galaxy. Everyone will know how to destroy that thing you were forced to build for Palpatine…!_

Jyn came to a stop when a figure appeared out of nowhere, wreathed in the residual smoke from the blasts much like a ghost as he was dressed in a white Imperial director's uniform holding a blaster on her.

Jyn wobbled for a bit, but she held her hands out to keep her balance while she glared at the man who had been there when her mother was murdered by the Deathtroopers. The same man who had manipulated her father into building the Death Star in the first place, and the man who had taken him and turned him into another cog in Palpatine's insane quest to control the galaxy through fear and terror.

"Who are you?" Krennic demanded, staring back at her with equal hatred and anger, though for different reasons. Deep down Krennic examined the woman who he had seen before twice, but always at a distance.

As he looked at her, he realised she did seem _familiar _but he had a very hard time placing her.

"You know who I am" Jyn replied, though it took all of her self discipline not to laugh at the question. _Surely _it had occurred to him by now who she was…?

Krennic looked back at her in confusion. He examined her features, which reminded him of someone he knew… and yet he couldn't place her.

Jyn couldn't believe it when she saw the confusion on Krennic's face; surely he had joined the dots by now, or maybe it was because when she had been younger he had been more interested in her father. Either way, she didn't care. "I'm Jyn Erso," she introduced herself quietly, glaring at him with all the hatred she could muster.

Krennic's eyes widened only a fraction when he heard her name. _Jyn Erso? Galen's daughter…. How can this be? I thought she had died, or she had just disappeared and hid in a hole someplace. _

"Daughter of Galen and Lyra," she went on, spitting her parents' names as though they were bullets she wanted to use to pierce his soul. "You've lost."

"Oh, I have, have I?" Krennic asked mockingly once he had gotten over the surprise that this Erso was still alive, although she seemed to have followed in her parents' footsteps of being irritating.

Jyn felt her anger grow at the mocking tone and she couldn't resist the urge or the chance to mock the bastard's arrogance. "My father's revenge," she replied with a smirk of satisfaction while at the same time she was trying to work out a way she could kill Krennic, or at least maim him for everything he had done.

But he was still holding that blaster on her, and he looked more than willing to use it. Jyn let her mind race as she tried to think of a way that she could use to wrestle the blaster from Krennic and come out on top. She decided to keep talking so then she could find her chance, if she could distract him which shouldn't be difficult since Krennic had such a high opinion of himself, she could find a way to use a distraction against him so long as he didn't shoot her…

She smirked wider when she saw that the mention of her father had caught his attention, now if she could strike a nerve…

"He built a flaw in the Death Star. He put a fuse in the middle of your machine, and I've just told the entire galaxy how to light it," Jyn went on, becoming more passionate as she went. She still hadn't forgiven herself for the way she had spat on the ground each time she was reminded of her father for the last fifteen years, but if she did this then maybe she would redeem them both. She didn't particularly care about taunting Krennic with the knowledge his precious machine had a fuse in it, literally, because she had no intention of letting him live.

Krennic was virtually paralysed with angry shock. Of all the people to have returned, to have come seemingly out of nowhere and threaten all of his long-term plans, Jyn Erso was the last one he had expected. He had expected the cargo pilot who had betrayed the Empire to have gone to the Rebellion and told them of the Death Star before that mess on Eadu.

He would have preferred it if that was truly the case, really, life would have been more simple.

But _Jyn Erso…._

Part of Krennic was curious as to what she had been doing all this time, but truly at this moment, he didn't care. He was too busy being angry and worried about the Death Star. Listening to her basically confirm the Death Star had been compromised because truthfully her surprise presence and the revelation of what Galen had potentially done to the station made him more determined to stop her.

But hearing her say she had told the galaxy how to light the fuse…. it almost made him laugh, and this was one thing he could correct her on.

"The shield is up," he said slowly and condescendingly as though she were nothing more than a stupid child, or a difficult school student. "Your signal will never reach the rebel base. All your ships in the air will be destroyed. I lose nothing but time," Krennic spat at her, growing more worked up as he continued speaking while telling this….this bitch the real facts of the matter, "You, on the other hand, die with the Rebellion."

Jyn had been tensing herself ready to leap on Krennic with each word, hating every syllable of his condescending attitude. It brought back memories she had buried a long time ago of how he had spoken to her and her mother at times. But right now she knew she would need to figure out a way of getting to him before he pulled that trigger, and as she watched him readying himself to fire, she prepared to leap over or dodge out of the way. It would be close, but if she could just muster the effort to leap a couple of times until she was close….

Jyn suddenly jumped in shock when a blaster cracked and Krennic suddenly collapsed to the ground with a blaster burn blackening the back of his uniform. She caught sight of movement close to the console, near one of the support columns holding up the antenna dish. Cassian!

She smiled at him in gratitude, and he nodded back shakily, and she saw with growing concern that he looked pretty ragged, and she couldn't say she was wildly surprised.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Jyn nodded. "Yeah, thanks. Great timing."

Cassian shrugged and then winced a bit in pain.

"Are you okay?'

"Yeah," he waved her concern away, but it was obvious that the fall had hurt him pretty badly even though he had managed to get up here from the vault. He then glanced at Krennic's still body. "Do you think he's right, about the shield gate?"

"I don't know," Jyn admitted before she looked upwards into the azure coloured sky. "I wish we have a reliable way of telling… Cassian, look!"

The blue sky above was dancing with flashes of bright electric-blue light.

"Jyn! Transmit the plans now! I think the shield gates' down," Cassian said when he took a quick look.

Running over to the console, Jyn pushed the formerly stiff lever to send the data transmission to any alliance ships up above. She momentarily wondered if Cassian could call the Alliance to let them know it was coming, but she decided it didn't matter. On the screen, four white segmented bars appeared to show the upload in progress, but the real music in her ear came when the computer said, "_Transmitting….Transmitting."_

Jyn turned to smile at Cassian, and her smile of triumph, joy and exhaustion was reflected in both of them, both of them bruised, battered, exhausted and yet their mission had been a success even though neither of them knew what the final cost was. Neither of them knew how many of their group had died, and how many had survived.

Jyn hobbled over to Cassian, wincing in pain much like he was. She took his arm before she realised he was still holding up his blaster and was covering the still unconscious body of Krennic. The sight of the man who had torn her father and mother from her reignited her rage, and she grunted as she tried to throw herself over to him, hoping to shove him off of the edge of the tower and watch him plummet down to his unceremonious death….

But Cassian, seeing her intentions, quickly grabbed onto her and pulled her away. "Leave it! Leave it!" he said while she continued to glare at Krennic's body, wanting nothing more than to cause him the physical pain the past fifteen + years had caused her. "That's it!"

Cassian pulled her away, and she realised he was pulling her back towards the lift. "Let's go."

"Do you think anybody's listening?" Cassian asked as they approached the lift.

She smiled at him as they supported each other in getting into the lift and away from here. "I do. Someone's out there."

Jyn looked down at the ground as he pulled her closer to the lift. He was right, it was time to go. Still, she couldn't resist sending another look at Krennic before she turned her back on him forever.

"You really wanted to kill him, didn't you?"

Jyn lifted her head as Cassian sagged a bit. "Yes," she whispered. "After everything he'd done…. It felt right, but when I looked back…. he just wasn't worth it. I don't care what happens to him now. We've done what we set out to do. Now we just need to find a way off this planet. We also have to find out if any of the others survived…. What's wrong?" she asked when she saw Cassian look away for a second.

Cassian sighed and he raised his head. "I've tried. When I hauled myself out of the data-vault to get to the tower to get back with you, I tried my comlink. There was no one. I think…," he swallowed, "we're all that's left."

Jyn almost collapsed, taking Cassian with her. "All of them?" she whispered.

Cassian nodded.

"Baze? Chirrut? Bodhi? All gone?" she whispered, remembering how Baze had called her a sister, and she remembered how touched she had been. And Chirrut... The idea they were all gone...

Cassian nodded.

Jyn looked away for a moment. The part of her, the harsh part which had been seeded and nurtured by Saw and her long years fighting told her all of them had known the risks, but they had become close together. The idea all of them were gone coupled with the loss of Kaytoo, was shocking to her.

"There's nothing here for us, Jyn," Cassian said, "we have to go."

Jyn nodded, hearing the pain in Cassian's own voice. "Yeah."

"Come on," she whispered as they pulled each other into the lift and quickly pressed the control to send them down to the ground, but they found themselves looking at each other. They couldn't look away even as the lights of the lift shifted from on to off as the lift went down….

Jyn leaned forward and captured Cassians lips in a kiss. He was surprised at first, but then he kissed back…

Finally, the lift reached the bottom and they reluctantly broke the kiss and stepped out. After leaving through the double-doors they took their first sight of the destruction on the ground level. It was one thing seeing it from the tower, but neither Cassian or Jyn had had the time to truly look at what had happened…

Bodies were scattered everywhere, both rebel and stormtrooper alike. Smoke and dust were rising everywhere, from shattered and burned out fighters and walkers and from grenade charges. Jyn studied each and every rebel she could, hoping to find someone from Rogue One, but she didn't get far because the sky above rumbled and a beam of green laser energy passed right through the citadel tower, demolishing it in one stroke from the top downwards.

"What did that?" Cassian asked breathlessly, surprised by the blast even as the sky began to turn into a burnt orange as in the distance, blazing like a miniature sun, was a large mushroom cloud.

Jyn looked up and her heart clenched when she caught sight of a massive ghostlike sphere in the sky. "The Death Star," she answered, "it's here."

It didn't take long for the pair of them to realise that there were no ships left intact, and yet when they both came to that conclusion, neither Jyn nor Cassian felt desperate to leave despite their newfound romance. In fact, they both felt at peace.

With that in mind, they walked closer to the beach as the expanding shockwave from the Death Star came closer to the shore. They both silently if painfully collapsed to the ground, but neither of them complained. Jyn stared at the shockwave as it came closer, knowing it would engulf them and everything on Scarif soon.

She felt nothing, really. She felt as if everything within her was at peace. It was odd, really; she had been fighting for so long, but now, at the end, did she understand. This was the moment where she and Cassian were both going to die.

She shared a look with Cassian and saw the same look of peace on his own face. "Your father would have been proud of you, Jyn," he said kindly with a smile.

She smiled back, wishing for a moment that, in a different world, she and Cassian would have gotten together and met her parents while she met Cassians, and both of them getting married and starting a family where no-one had even heard of Darth Vader, known of life under Palpatine and his Empire, known of the Death Star.

But she knew this was a reality, but if there was another Jyn Erso living in that type of world, this Jyn Erso wished her the best in the world.

She silently took his hand and he squeezed it as the shockwave grew closer and closer, and they could definitely feel its heat. They pulled themselves up and held onto one another as the shockwave washed over them…..

* * *

_She didn't know where she was though she had often heard of a netherworld. She had also heard stories of the Force from her parents, whispered to her so then Palpatine would never hear of it. _

_And then she saw her parents, Galen and Lyra, looking young and happy. Her mother looked full, just like she had before they'd fled from their home to get away from Krennic, and her father, all the lines of stress from his face and the grey of his hair… all of them were gone. _

_She also saw the other members of Rogue One, looking happy and at peace. But lastly, she saw Cassian, looking healthy and whole. _

_Jyn smiled back. _

_She had become one with the Force._

* * *

**Author's note - And...that's it. I hope you enjoyed it. **


End file.
